Roast asparagus with eggs and toast

It may seem like cheating, a recipe hardly worth posting; but this, ladies and gentlemen is what I had for breakfast. And it was lovely. As I sat and ate I thought, what a great way to use leftover roasted veg, which you're likely to have if you've put in a garden or joined a CSA. And veggies at breakfast has the added bonus of allowing you to sneak something green into your diet before noon. So whether you're using up leftovers or starting the day with something made from scratch, I'll include this as encouragement to make each meal special.

breakfast for one

2 fresh eggs

1 knob of butter (just under a Tbs.)

kosher salt

freshly cracked pepper

1/3 to 1/2 cup leftover roasted veg;

such as asparagus, red peppers, or tomatoes

Since there isn't much to this recipe, I'll take the opportunity to pass on a tidbit of egg cooking knowledge .

Use a heavy-bottomed non-stick skillet and heat it to medium or medium-low. Add butter to the skillet and allow it to melt slowly swirling it around the pan occasionally. If the butter has not begun to foam once it is entirely melted, you may raise the heat; but only a little. Once the butter is visibly foaming, crack your eggs into the pan. This is just the right temperature for cooking eggs. They will coagulate slowly at this heat, so be patient. But they won't stick, and if you like your yolks runny, you have enough leeway to get them out of the pan before things overcook. Use a rubber spatula with the eggs to occasionally loosen them from the pan at their edges.

You have two options: you may flip the eggs when the white appears mostly set but you do run the slight risk of breaking the yolk. Otherwise, you can have your eggs "sunny-side up" by simply breaking through the set white with your spatula and allowing the remaining liquid white to fill the crack and thereby continue to cook. Either way works - and if you're me, you likely take a middle of the road approach and fold the eggs over on themselves not committing to either flipping or not flipping. When they are finished you will want to run the spatula round the edge of the eggs in order to release them. Turn them out onto your toast and top with roasted veg, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!

Roasted Beet salad with Goat Cheese

I am fully willing to admit that this is hardly even a recipe, but more of an idea. But, it is a good idea. This is one of my favorite things to make for a post-farmer's market lunch or early dinner, sitting on the patio, and as the weather starts to warm and asparagus is showing up in barrels, I have started dreaming of the farmer's market. (If you are in warmer climes, perhaps they have already started in your neck of the woods!) Whatever looks beautiful sitting on the tables at the market will look beautiful together in the salad: beets, with a mixture of golden, red, chiogga (with the lovely deep pink and white concentric circles), green and yellow wax beans, cherry or grape tomatoes, and any other tempting veggies. These all get the heft of a meal with the addition of slices of chevre and caramelized walnuts. I have included instructions for the main idea - beets, chevre, and walnuts - and feel free to improvise with the remaining ingredients. The instructions for the beets comes from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food. For a dressing, my honest favorite is one that Claudine posted a while ago, with champagne vinegar, mustard and maple syrup. A link to it is here.


For the Beets:
Trim the greens from:
1 lb. beets (red, chiogga, golden or white)
Wash thoroughly. Put them in a baking dish with a little water (enough to cover the bottom of the dish to a depth of 1/8 inch) and sprinkle with salt. Cover tightly and bake the beets in 350 degree oven until they can be easily pierced with a sharp knife, 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on their size. Uncover and cool. Cut off the tops and roots and slice off the skins. Cut the peeled beets into small wedges, and sprinkle with:
1 teaspoon vinegar (champagne, if you are using the dressing)
Salt
Let stand for a few minutes to allow the beets to absorb the flavor. Taste and add more salt or vinegar, and then toss with:
1-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Set aside in the fridge until ready to assemble the salad. Can be made 1 day ahead.

For the Veggies:
Slice the ends off of
1 lb green, yellow wax beans, or a mixture thereof
and wash thoroughly. Steam gently in a steamer for just 2 minutes, checking to be sure that the beans remain crisp. Remove from the heat, and place in a bowl with ice and water until ready to add to the salad.

Wash thoroughly and slice in half
1/2 lb cherry or grape tomatoes
Set aside.

For the Chevre:
Try to look for some local goat cheese; here in CO we have an amazing local cheese called Haystack Mountain that has a booth at the farmer's market and also sells at the Whole Foods. Look for a smallish log of chevre, and remove the plastic outer. And - here is the revolutionary idea my husband passed along to me - cut the chevere into small rounds using floss. This works remarkably well, not unlike a wire cutter for clay. Set these aside as well.

For the Walnuts:
In a small saucepan, place
3/4 cup sugar
over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts and liquefies. Add
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped coarsly
Stir the walnuts into the melted sugar with a wooden spoon until covered. Continue to stir with the pan on medium heat as the sugar begins to caramelize and turn a golden brown. When the sugar smokes, pick the pan up off the heat and continue to stir; when the smoke has subsided, return to the heat. Continue in this way, keeping the sugar just below smoking, until the sugar is a deep caramel, and the walnuts are well toasted. This will only take a few minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, and spoon the walnut mixture onto a sheet of wax paper or parchment, spreading the walnuts and separating them with a spoon. Sprinkle with salt, and let cool. Once cool, break apart any large clumps of walnuts.

To assemble:
Place
1 lb. spring greens
in a large bowl; any fun mixture is good. Add the veggies and some of the salad dressing (start with a little and then taste) and toss.

Place a mound of greens and veggies in each bowl. Top with beet slices, chevre, and walnuts. For a dinner, serve with large slices of artisan bread.

Heirloom Seeds

I have yet to post anything online about gardening, but now that we live in the Northeast and it has become possible to put in some crops, I am dreaming about home grown produce. So far this year we have decided only to deal with perennial flowers and herbs - it was a cost and time issue. The plan this summer is to build a raised bed on our property and prepare the soil for next year's adventures in edibles. For now, we have our IKEA shelf, grow lamp and two flats of seedlings. We are growing a multi-headed sunflower, some winter thyme, sage and Icelandic poppies with two more crops in the works.

But my real reason for writing this post was not to update you on our own humble agrarian adventures but to pass along the website of an heirloom seed company I came across today. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is based in MO and ships rare seed varieties around the country. If you are unfamiliar with heirloom produce, I can tell you that it is astonishing in its variety and flavour. If you are looking to include more vegetables in your diet, seeking out heirloom varieties will give you so much more in taste and choice than conventionally grown produce. And what better way to source it than to grow it yourself?

Green Bean Salad

As promised here is the green bean salad we made last week. If you are ambitious enough to cook it along with the curry - it will make a wonderful accompaniment.

And it really isn't that hard.

1 pound green beans

3 Tbs. sesame seeds

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

2 green chilies, serrano or jalapeno, seeded and sliced into rings

1/2 tsp salt

2 to 3 Tbs. of fresh lemon juice, to taste

chopped cilantro (optional)

Cook the beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender - about 5 minutes. Drain them, then run them under cold water to "refresh" and cool them. At this point, trim the ends and cut the beans into 1" lengths. Set them aside in a bowl.

Heat a dry thick-bottomed skillet over high heat and add the sesame seeds. Stir these constantly as they will be prone to burning. Roast the seeds until they are slightly golden. Transfer them to a coffee or spice grinder and pulse them until they are a fine paste.

Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Toss int he chopped chilies and saute for 30 seconds. Pour the hot oil and chilies over the green beans and toss. Add the salt and sesame seeds to the mix and toss again. Lastly, dress with fresh lemon juice. You may add chopped cilantro to the salad before serving. Et voila!

Potato Curry and Green Bean Salad

I don't usually post a recipe without first testing it, but this week you get to cook alongside me. We are planning to make a lovely Indian potato curry from the gorgeous book by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid entitled Mangoes and Curry Leaves - I am a fan, to say the least. When we make it, we intend to throw the green beans into the curry to cook amongst the potatoes. But here I will post a second recipe for a green bean salad which you could also make. We tried it last week with a grilled chicken, and it was light, cool, and delicate.

2 Tbs. raw vegetable oil or ghee*

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 pound waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes

1 pound green beans, topped, tailed and cut into 1/2" lengths (optional)

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup chopped tomatoes (I use 1/2 a can of diced)

2 green hot chilies - like serrano or jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

you can purchase cumin whole and grind it yourself. We keep an
old coffee grinder around to pulverize spices - Look for cumin in bags in
the international food section of your grocery store. It will be a lot
cheaper.

1 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. salt or to taste

Heat the oil or ghee in a wok or a wide pot over medium heat. Add 1 tsp garlic and cook until you smell it about 30 seconds, then add the onions, potatoes, and green beans (if you are not making green bean salad). Stir-fry for several minutes, until the onions have softened, pressing the potato cubes against the surface of the hot pan. Then add the chopped tomatoes, and the chili. Stir.

Add turmeric, mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, and the remaining garlic and stir. Add the water and salt and bring it to a boil. Cover the pan tightly and cook at a high simmer until the potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes. Halfway through the twenty minutes, check to make sure you have sufficient water and that nothing is sticking to the pan. Add a little more water, if necessary.

Serve with 3 cups basmati or brown rice and green bean salad, if you like.

*If you are keen to make your own ghee, it is possible - and not that hard. Ghee is a common fat in Indian cooking. It is actually just clarified butter with one subtle difference - the milk solids are allowed to brown imparting a nutty flavour.

To make your own ghee you will need a light colored saute pan, butter, strainer, and coffee filter.

When you clarify butter, you will evaporate much of the water in it and decrease its volume. Therefore, double the amount of ghee in the recipe and you have your measurement of butter. To create the preceding recipe, place 4 Tbs. of butter in a light colored skillet and place over low heat. The butter will melt, then sizzle - and once all of the water has evaporated, it will become quiet again. It needs careful watching at this point. Have ready your strainer lined with a coffee filter suspended over a bowl. In the skillet you will see milk solids that have settled on the bottom of the pan. These will begin to color. Allow them to become a nice golden color - like the color of fried chicken. Then take the pan off the heat and pour the butter through the filter. What collects in the bowl below is ghee.